Family
by Awsumjoker
Summary: Bella and Edward have been married for 11 years and have 9 kids together. They have held strong together for a long time but will new troubles bring them apart? All Human
1. Chapter 1

Family

Today started off as a typical day. I woke up, looked to my left, even though I didn't need to, to realize it was still empty since last week. My husband Edward and I were not seeing much of each other lately, supposedly he was "too busy with work" to come home and see the children and I, which is funny being that we have 9 kids together. They range from 14 to 11 months and he hasn't even been around. I turned away from that idea and looked at Dianne who was still asleep on the bed which didn't surprise me since she, along with me, was up till 4am last night crying her eyes out. I next looked to the alarm clock next to my side of the bed which stated it was 7:12am in bright red numbering, time to get up. I was tired but slowly got up since I had no more time to rest, I had already slept in. I went to the bathroom and quickly stripped then jumped in the shower. 10 minutes later I was out and in my towel getting my clothes when Dianne started to cry. I pulled on my favorite summer dress that was brown with a cute white design and knee length then picked Dianne up and rocked her in my lap until she had calmed down and was just lying there. Today was August 7th which meant the day I dreaded, school shopping day. I got my wedding ring from the nightstand with one hand while the other held Dianne close to my waist. I was slipping it on when all of a sudden Mark and Ryan came running into my room playing tag and yelling. "Stop it right now. Get downstairs and be quiet about it." I ordered in a whisper, I would have yelled but that would have made Dianne even more upset then she was right now.

I walked down the beige hallway after Mark and Ryan, whose feet was pitter pattering on the hardwood floor that would need to be mopped soon. As pictures of my life passed me by, all of a sudden I was remembering the moment connecting with every picture just like how I did everytime I walked out of my bedroom. The pictures were perfectly lined up on the left wall, the first picture was of me and Alina, my daughter, when I was 15 and she was 1. I remembered I took the picture for my mom because she wanted to see how Alina was doing after I moved to Forks to live with my dad. I can't believe how much time has passed because now I'm 29 and she's 14. I get nervous about her being that she's the age I was when I was pregnant with her and gave birth. The next picture was one with me, Edward and Alina in it. He became my boyfriend when I was 16 when others would cringe away from me because I was a mother but he didn't, he welcomed me and loved me, he even loved Alina like his own even though she wasn't biologically his. Alina's father, Alex, had left me when he found out I was pregnant and after that I thought I would be alone in this world with only Alina's company but that all changed with Edward. The picture after that one was me at 18 with a 4 year old Alina in my lap, a wedding ring on my finger, Edward standing next to me with a 1 year old Crimson in his hands. Crimson was my 2nd child and the 2nd oldest in our family not to mention, Edward's first child and daughter but now she's growing so fast now that she's 12.

The next picture was of me at 21 holding a 1 year old Stephanie, with Alina standing next to me who at that time was 7, and Edward was sitting next to me with a 4 year old Crimson in his lap, she was always such a daddy's girl. Stephanie is now 9 and is a tomboy, the first one in the family. The picture after that one is of a very pregnant looking me outside with Alina asking me for some money. That day was so great because it was the first time it was mildly hot outside so we decided on a BBQ that day and it felt so good to be around so much family. Katie, she was 2 at the time but is now 7, and a 6 year old Crimson playing in the sandbox and a 3 year old Stephanie playing with Hotwheels on the patio and it was all caught without Edward in the picture because he was the one who took it. The next picture was one of me with Mark and Makenna who are the only twins we have and are now 5. It was around the time right after the twins were born that Edward and I started drifting apart, at that time it was only him staying out late or being too busy to pick up Stephanie from soccer practice or Alina from her friend's house. The last picture on the long hallway to the stairs was one of me about 7 months pregnant with Dianne, Dexter was maybe 1 or a little less and Ryan was 2, that picture showed all the family together except Alina because she was at her dad's at this time, I always think of that picture because it was the only picture where I actually had to fake the smile on my face. After I found out I was having Dianne, Edward drifted completely away, he wouldn't come home for dinner and would stay out all night long sometimes only coming home to change clothes but soon that changed, because he just started taking extra clothes so he never needed to come home. Dexter, my 2 year old, always sleeps on his side now because he knows that his dad is not coming home. As I reach the stairs and descend I think of all the sad feelings I have and wonder if everything wrong in my marriage is my fault.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Ch. 2: Wake Up Call

I walked down the stairs to the kitchen with Dianne on my left hip and Dexter holding my right hand. I started breakfast which meant I brought the cereal to the table and got the bowls from the shelf, I always left the milk in the refrigerator because it was my job to pour. I looked outside when I pulled all the curtains aside in the kitchen and living room that it was very sunny outside, I think I might take the kids to the park after shopping today so they finally have a chance to get out of the house. I then went back up the stairs to Alina and Crimson's bedroom while Dexter let go of my hand to play with Ryan and Mark in the hallway, he stumbled to them but ended up getting there without a scratch on him. I came into the dark room and went to wake up Alina first but when I got to her bed I saw it was empty with a note on her pillow that read "Went to dad's see ya later –Alina" Ugh how many times have I told her to tell me before she left anywhere especially to her fathers! She always pulls this crap, one time I told Edward about this, hoping he would know what to do to make it stop but all he replied was, "Stop worrying so much about her, she's going to rebel if you try rule her life." Like sneaking out at all times of the night is nothing to worry about, oh no the rapists and murderers take a break around 3 in the morning. I bet if Crimson (though highly unlikely) was sneaking out at night he would be worrying and doing everything in his power to "rule" her life. I snuck over to Crimson's bed in a bad mood and tried to lightly shake her awake. She looked me in the face, then rolled over away from me and told me to go away. I was so frustrated, what is up with all this attitude? So I simply stated, "Get up now or you won't get new school clothes." That should do the trick so I walked away and sure enough as I was closing her door I heard her jump out of bed. I went to the bedroom right next door to mine which was Stephanie, Makenna, and Katie's room. They all woke up without a problem except Stephanie but all she did was groan so no problem there and Katie insisted on wearing princess tiara but that was to be expected, she had her own kingdom after all, her brothers were usually the monsters, as they loved pretending to be, that tore it down. Just like 3 Godzillas in Tokyo.

I let Crimson watch Dianne while I dressed the boys, which of course was hard because they spread through out the house to play "hide and seek" with me which was quickly becoming my least favorite game. I finally won though and everyone was dressed and downstairs eating. We had the routine where everyone got a cereal of their choice then I went around the table to pour milk but only if they were fully dressed and were being good otherwise they had a timeout with me or had to finish dressing. Luckily, today was a good day and there were no problems. I sat down to my own cereal, Chocolate Cheerios, and watched my family. They each had their own personality and look and they all managed to be great and so close to me. It was at that moment that I realized, no matter what happened, I would stay with my family.

After I was done eating I put the bowl in the dishwasher and made the dreaded call to Alex, Alina's dad. I had just got to his name in my contacts and I had already known what was going to happen, it happened every time but I still called. It went straight to voicemail after the first ring, he never answers when he knows I am going to talk to him about his parenting style, you know, the non-existent kind. Just when I was walking back to the kitchen to check on the kids, the doorbell rang.

_AN: Short chapter but really is only sort of a set up for the rest of the plot. The story will get more interesting, I promise._


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I sort of jogged to the door so I could quickly get back to the kids, the girl scouts were getting persistent lately so I learned a routine to quickly get them away. I looked out the peephole and saw the last person I ever expected to see, it was Alice. I quickly opened the door and she pulled me in a tight hug that, in my opinion, lasted longer than it needed to. I looked down at her for a moment before I asked, "What are you doing here?"

She replied with a, "Well a little birdie told me that you were taking my beautiful nieces and nephews shopping today so I decided I would stop by and help you plus I can finally get out of the house." She said the last part in an exasperated tone. Alice was a great stay-at-home mom but sometimes all any mother needs is to get away. I invited her in and we headed toward the kitchen where an epic food fight, well in this case cereal war, was about to occur. The kids saw me and stopped what they were doing and I said, "Guess who's here?" just as Alice came around the corner, immediately there was a chorus of Auntie Alices and she was charged by 4 little kids (Dexter, Mark, Ryan, and Makenna.) Stephanie and Crimson went in for a hug after the mob had dissipated. Alice and I soon sat down to start talking but immediately we heard a big bang followed by crying and I ran towards the sound. Ryan had gotten up on the sofa and was going to jump off the back when his brothers came by and hit the couch which made him fall, of course this all came out in a 3 year old's sobs but the point was clear. After I put a band aid on his bleeding knee we all piled into the minivan. See putting all my kids in a van was work so of course we had to come up with a system. Dexter, Ryan, and Mark were never to sit together in the van because that would be like asking for WW III. So in the back row Makenna, Mark, and Katie sat, the row before that held Ryan, Stephanie and on the other side was Dexter. Finally, in the row after my seat was Dianne on the far left, there was space in the middle now because Alina wasn't here and then Crimson sat behind me on the far right. We finally got everyone buckled and ready to go after about 10 minutes so we left and headed to Wal-Mart. Even though Alice loved shopping she hated that we shopped at Wal-Mart but at this time that is all we can afford. I gave the older ones the rules, only a certain amount of clothes and to use the buddy system, the talks they have heard for as many years they have been alive, Stephanie and Crimson went off alone to the girls' section, and we went to do the girls section after I picked up some shampoo. We talked about how Alice was doing, she said her and Jasper were awesome and that Nicky, her 2 year old daughter, is finally walking on her own. When we were done with the girls' clothes and were picking out the boys clothes Alice finally spoke about why she really came. "Okay well you caught me I did come for another reason other than shopping." She blurted out of nowhere.

"Oh okay, so what did you need to know?" I asked in a sort of joking tone but I had a feeling the question wasn't going to be good.

"Well it's not that I need to know it, I was just wondering how you and Edward are going?" She said it in such a low voice, I guess for Mark not to hear even though he was too busy playing in the clothes racks.

I didn't expect the question so in shock I dropped the shirt I was looking at. As I picked it up, I said what I thought should have been said, what you're supposed to say about your marriage, "It's going great, we've never been better," following her lead on whispering.

I could tell she didn't really believe me but she didn't press the subject instead she went on to say, "Well that's good. So I guess you guys won't have a problem coming to a family dinner this weekend. It's going to be at Carlisle and Esme's house so there will be no problem with space, like last time." See that was my usual excuse to get out of those things when Edward said he wouldn't be able to make it.

I replied the only way I could and mumbled a, "Yeah, we'll be there."

"Good." She replied as though she just accomplished something incredible. We continued our journey through the store but it just was not the carefree environment it was before, I guess this is why she waited until almost the end of the trip to ask. The ride home was semi-quiet because Dianne was asleep and the kids were watching a movie.

We got to my house and unloaded all the kids and bags and when everything was done Alice said, "Well I got to get home to Nicky so remember the dinner is Sunday and try to get there in time for lunch so we could make a day as a family. Tell Edward I said hi." She yelled, "See you guys on Sunday." as she walked towards her car and the kids that saw her leave yelled, "Bye Auntie" as she left. I went back inside and started to put away the clothes.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

AN: Thanks for the reviews, they're super appreciated.

I got to the living room and Alina was there on the couch watching TV. "I'm going to have a talk with you when I'm done." I then went to put Dianne down for her nap and when I came back, I said, "You know I told you to tell me before you leave anywhere especially to your dad's house."

She didn't even look away from the TV when she replied, "Well yeah I did, sorry I assumed you could read the note that I wrote."

"Don't be a smartass. You're grounded for 2 weeks, no TV, radio, cell phone, or any communication with the outside world; in fact, you won't see the light of day until you start high school."

She finally looked away from the TV and said, "You're a bitch." Then got up and walked away to her room.

Why did she always have to be so difficult, "That makes it a month!" I yelled as she walked up the stairs. I walked away into the kitchen so I could start dinner and I saw Dexter hitting his toy car against the wall, "Stop it Dexter." I picked him up and carried him to the kitchen with me. "You wanna help me make some brownies." He nodded so I set him down and told him to go get Ryan and Mark and see if they wanted to help.

They ended up wanting to play instead so Dexter came back alone, we made the brownies together, he mixed to the best of his ability and then dumped it into the pan with my help and I let him have some of the mix from the spoon. I had just popped the brownies in the oven when my phone rang I quickly ran to get it so it wouldn't wake up Dianne. I flipped it open and said "Dexter no honey leave that alone, you wanna set the timer? Here turn it all the way here."

"Bella?"

"Edward?"

"Yeah."

"Oh hey… you." Gosh we sounded like we are nervous high school kids.

"Yeah, I called to say not to make dinner because tonight I want to take you and the kids out."

"Oh okay, where are we going?"

"What about the pizza place down on Morrison?"

"Oh okay well that sounds good, I'll tell them all. You know they really miss you." I wanted to say I really missed you too but I decided against it.

"And I miss them too, I miss you a lot too but you know how hard I have to work to support you guys , which is all I ever wanted to do. I want to spend more time home but it's so hard to take hours off here"

"I know, I understand. See you at home. Have a good day honey." I was a little mad about the last statement; he didn't have to push the blame on to others. But I ignored it, maybe it was the truth.

"You too, I'll be home around 5 or 6. Love you, I got to go. Bye" Before I could even say bye, there was that dial tone that I dread so much. So he loves us and wants to see us, provides for us and at the same time doesn't stay on the phone long enough to have a decent conversation that ends with I love you or even to come home every night to the person he said 'I do' to. Damn I forgot to tell him about the dinner on Sunday, oh well I'll tell him when he gets here.

Hours Later, 5:40pm

Why isn't he here yet? He said 5 or 6, those were the words from his mouth. All the kids are washed up and all of them are complaining about being hungry. Around 5:20pm, I finally had to give in and give them snacks because truthfully I was hungry too. Mark and Ryan are playing with their fake swords, Dexter and Stephanie are playing with some Hot Wheels and the other kids are now being restless and are scattered.

6pm

Maybe I'm overreacting, people are late all the time. People misjudge the time on the clock, are forced to work late, they have perfectly legitimate reasons for being late plus it's only 6. I'm overreacting that's what it is he's probably in traffic. I turned on the news just as the traffic team was on, "Man, Jim this is the clearest day for roadways since well since cars were invented (then he laughed at his own joke). Not an accident on the road…." I was going to be sick so I flipped the TV off.

I should call him, yes calling would be good so I picked up the phone and hit 2, the speed dial and pressed send. Ring ringg rinngg "I'm sorry the person you are trying to reach is unavailable at this moment please try your call again later." Why would it ring 4 times, if it was off before it would of rung only once maybe not even that and if he just wasn't there it would of rang more times. Now I'm not sad, or worried, or even about to have a breakdown like I was a minute ago, no now I'm…..seriously pissed off. If he was going to be a dick I would have been fine with that, not coming home, I'm fine with that, not even being there for finding out one of his OWN kids had asthma, I'm fine with that too. Only seeing his youngest daughter a handful of times in her life, fine, hopefully it will get better that's what I say to that but to unnecessarily get my hopes, and his OWN kids hopes up is unacceptable and unforgivable and I am done with it! If he wants to try to avoid his family, to try to forget those vows he took a decade ago then I'm just going to have to remind him. "Kids get in the car, we're going to see your dad."

AN: So she may have snapped but that's okay. Umm next chapter she's going to the hospital to confront him. So review and give your opinion, is there something I could work on with the anger thing? Anyway hope you liked it adios.


	5. Chapter 5

I always forget these disclaimers so here it goes I do not own Twilight or the characters. Oh and there is some language pretty minor soo...

BPOV

I'm pretty sure that I've never broken the speed limit as severely as I did this time when rushing to the hospital. It's not even an emergency like a kid choking, no, I was just going to confront my husband who stood up the kids and me. Since I left Alina in charge at home last minute I was alone in my car. I thought of what I was going to say and then I realized a very important point, I'm not good at confrontation, I actually shy away from it, I've never yelled at someone as..severely could be the word, as this time. When I got to the hospital and used the 20 minute parking I sat in my car for a minute and just tried to get a plan together but before I needed to I saw Edward leave, for one moment, a very short moment, I was so happy. I knew he wasn't a horrible person, see here he was about to go home to his kids, but as always that was not the case because as soon as he was in front of my car I saw what was on his other side. A nurse, he was holding hands with a freaking nurse and laughing and smiling. I just sat frozen in my seat as he walked her to what I assume to be her car then as she got to her driver seat he leaned down and just as he was about to kiss her I finally got out of my car and jogged to where he was. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" He looked up at me and shock immediately spread across his face. "Bella I swear it's not what it looks like this is my friend Bella her name is Ashley." "Well to me it looks like Ashley is just a little more than a friend. I'm not stupid Edward, you couldn't even come up with a better excuse. I'm done with this! I want a divorce!" It felt so good in a strange kind of way I finally stood up for myself and my children, I finally did what I was supposed to but It still felt unfinished so right before I got into my car I yelled, "And when I'm through with you, you'll wish you had your family back you jackass!" In the end calling him a donkey wasn't the worse I could of done but it still felt relieving to say.

* * *

He came home. It was ironic in a way, the one day I didn't want him to be here he showed up, and before me. He actually was already home when I got there just because I went to get pizza for the kids. When the garage door came up, his car was there in the spot it was supposed to be in for the last year but never was, and I just sat there for a moment what else could I do? And to be honest for a short moment a feeling came back, one that I thought would be gone forever...happiness. He came home, all it took was a threat of divorce but he came home, he is in there now playing with the kids and we can finally go back to being normal. Then it dawned on me, what if he just wants to drag me along? And anger was slowly taking the place of that dormant feeling I know he heard me come home why isn't he out here to greet me if he wanted to go back to normal? I finally had to stop the guessing and just went inside. He was sitting on the couch with everyone around him except Alina who no doubtedly went to her room as soon as he came home. When I opened the door I immediately had all eyes on me. "See mommy's home already go get some food guys." He said while staring at me, I glared back because I was not about to give up this fight. "Can I talk to you Bella?" he asked in a nonfriendly tone I'm sure he wanted the kids to not hear, while getting off the couch. "I'm kind of busy right now." I didn't want to give in so easily so i knew the best route would be to distract myself but in a calm tone now he said, "Stephanie give everyone one slice of pizza." "Okay dad." I finally had no choice so when he took my hand and led me to our bedroom upstairs but I was extremely nervous.

We got there and he said "How come you don't believe me? I've always been truthful with you, never even given a reason to doubt me." "I don't believe you because I know what it was. You didn't come home when you promised and you hardly ever come home anymore at all. Why stay married when we don't act like a married couple?" "I love you Bella I don't want to lose you or our kids we are just going through a rough patch but every married couple does. I'll try even harder if you never bring up divorce again. I promise it will be just like it used to be." I sensed that it wouldn't work but he was my husband I love him and I do foolishly trust him. "Okay but remember if it doesn't work I will want the d.." Before I could say anything else he just put a finger to my lips and said "shhhh it will work don't worry. I love you." Then we walked downstairs hand in hand to eat dinner with OUR reunited family. Even though now I'm filled with happiness I can't help but wonder, was he really cheating?

AN: Okay sorry for not updating for a really long time. But anyway hope you liked it. adios. =)


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